Postscript

Letters to the Editor

Tools

Bleating Heart?

To the Editor:

Sara Lewis' racism and stupidity are showing
(City Reporter, August 8th issue). Her bleating about
discrimination [against minority contractors] is a
paranoid reactionary stunt. No business is obliged to
give its best pricing to any and all who ask for bids
from them.

The bid request was dishonest because the
dealer was not told that two or more bidders intended
to share confidential pricing info. Lewis' involvement
is outside normal bid procedures and did not follow
the agreed-upon rules.

Does the Flyer have only one price for
advertising space? Would you provide the best price for a
full-page ad from a business you had never heard of
and were unable to contact for more info? Would you
print that full-page ad? Not in a million years.

Mike Crone

Memphis

Why Sprawl Exists

To the Editor:

Lester Graham's article "That's Sprawl, Folks!"
(July 25th issue) only looks at one side of the story.
Graham fails to mention or admit some of the main
reasons people move to the suburbs: crime, bad
schools, low property values, high insurance rates, etc. [in
the city]. With a regressive tax system that forces
people who live in the county to pay for city schools, it's
a matter of time before people start moving out of
the county entirely. Yes, most of those people living
in $500,000 houses probably send their kids to
private schools, but most of the rest of us don't. I believe
in public education as long as parents are
disciplining their kids at home and not sending a bunch of
thugs to class.

We are also paying for crime that doesn't occur
in our suburbs; we are paying for jails that house
mainly city residents; we are paying for health insurance
that we can't use; we are paying higher auto-insurance
rates because of many city residents who don't buy
insurance at all; we are paying for daycare because of
illegitimate parents. The list goes on and on. Yeah,
Mr. Graham, other people may pay for our trip to the
suburbs, but I guarantee you it is offset 10 to one by
the extra costs we pay in taxes, insurance rates, etc.

Jim Weatherly

Germantown

HER Way

To the Editor:

In response to Lisa C. McLeroy's letter (August
8th issue) about the review of the show My Way: A
Musical Tribute To Frank Sinatra, I would like to clear
the air about several items of misinformation.

As a cast member of the show, I feel I have
the wherewithal to respond to McLeroy's statement
about the lack of the "spirit of the original performer."
In the show's libretto and character descriptions, the
two men who conceived the show wrote that the
production should never do "any sort of physical or
vocal imitation" of Sinatra.

As for the allegation of "repeat" casting:
Had McLeroy read her program carefully, she would
have seen that three of the seven cast members, as well as
the music director, were making their Theater Memphis debuts. Of the
seven cast members, none had ever been directed by director Kevin
Shaw. How does this constitute repeat casting?

Sour grapes, Ms. McLeroy?

Chris Nemec

Memphis

Moles?

To the Editor:

Jim Rout and son both claim to be Republicans, but they
both visibly supported Democrats in the county elections (Politics,
August 1st issue). The local GOP should do some housecleaning.
In C.I.A. lingo, the word "mole" seems to be appropriate here.

Or in other words: "Show me the arena money!"

Joe Mercer

Memphis

Lukewarm Catholics?

To the Editor:

Because of the recent sexual scandals ("Father
Figures," July 18th issue), Catholics have basically split into
two camps. One side attempts to censor those who seek
the truth, continues to accept the lukewarm spiritual state
of the church, and excuses, defends, or sympathizes with
bishops and priests regardless of their moral conduct.

The other side is aware of the need for a
spiritual renewal in a church that has learned to tolerate
scandal and deny the existence of grave sins on the part of
her shepherds.

As a Catholic, I believe scandal will continue to
exist in today's church because, for most bishops and
priests, holiness has been replaced by worldliness.

Vincent Bemowski

Menasha, Wisconsin

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Letters should be no longer than 250 words.